VICTORVILLE — Victor Elementary School District will welcome 36 new teachers in the 2014-15 school year in addition to 40 others hired the previous year, school officials said.

The need for more instructors comes with a growing student population and a California mandate to reduce class sizes to a ratio of 24 students to one teacher by 2021, Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Services Maureen Mills said.

“It’s wonderful,” Mills said. “It’s nice to see we’re able to hire. I’m hoping more people will make that decision to complete their programs. There was a lull there for a while with the economic downturn and it’s nice to see people have an opportunity to finish, have interest in it, and know there’s some hope out there to be hired in the future.

“And of course we always welcome new students,” Mills said. “We want to continue to grow the district.”

The district has grown by 500 students in a two-year period, according to Mills.

Superintendent Jan Gonzales said it’s been “a long time” since the district hired this many educators at one time. VESD underwent a round of layoffs in 2010, letting go of about 80 teachers.

Those teachers were invited back during this last round of hiring, Gonzales said. However, some had already moved on to new jobs.

“We’ve had a bit of growth but we’re also hiring because of class size reduction,” Gonzales said. “The state has funds adjusted for the next seven years.”

Gonzales said the state’s mandate for reductions has come swiftly and dramatically. Over the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years the ratio of students to teachers will be reduced by 40 percent, with the larger chunk of that reduction — 28 percent — coming this year.

“No one is denying that it’s good,” Gonzalez said. “But we have to make sure we have the facilities to accommodate all of this. We have to build another school now.”

The VESD board recently approved plans for a new elementary school to be constructed on the southwest corner of Arrowhead Drive and Warwick Street in Victorville. It is expected to open for the 2016-17 school year and has not yet been named, Gonzales said.

Brooke Self may be reached at 760-951-6232 or BSelf@VVDailyPress.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @BrookeSelf or @DPEduNews.